Riot Games settles workplace discrimination claim

New Jersey residents may be familiar with the video game “League of Legends.” Riot Games, the company that publishes the online battle game, has recently been ordered to pay out $10 million for a class-action gender discrimination lawsuit. A thousand female employees of Riot Games will be compensated in varying amounts depending on their length of employment.

The lawsuit was filed in 2018 after Kotaku investigated the so-called “bro culture” at Riot that many employees reported experiencing. Twenty-eight people came forward to say that women working at Riot were treated like outsiders and denied the same employment opportunities as their male coworkers. When Riot tried to use legal arbitration to resolve some of the complaints in Spring 2019, many employees walked out of work in response. Riot agreed to settle the lawsuit in August.

According to court documents in the workplace discrimination case, two female employees who led the class-action lawsuit will receive $10,000 each. After legal fees are subtracted, the remaining balance of settlement funds will be dispersed among full-time employees and temporary contractors who worked for Riot at some point in the last five years. At least $2,500 will go to each full-time employee while temporary contractors will be paid a minimum of $500 each. Most of the class members are expected to receive around $5,000 according to the court filing.

When a company is aware that it is being sued for workplace discrimination, the company might make an attempt to resolve the complaint through legal arbitration. The legal arbitration process circumvents the court system and is often more favorable to employers than employees. Before agreeing to legal arbitration, an employee may want to speak with a lawyer about the details of their case.